Why I Am A Pentecostal

Pentecostal -- of, relating to, or constituting any of various Christian religious bodies that emphasize individual experiences of grace, spiritual gifts (as glossolalia and faith healing), expressive worship, and evangelism --Webster

I guess this is the hardest one for me these days, but I still hold to it. I grew up in the Assemblies of God and became ordained in them as well. The difficulty I have now is the fact that I no longer believe in the restrictive nature of Pentecostal theology.

What I mean is that once Pentecostals formulated doctrinal statement, true creative thought about the Holy Spirit and how HE works was lost. The Holy Spirit in my opinion became boxed up and unable to do anything except by the Pentecostal script of how HE works.

1. The Holy Spirit only baptizes people in a certain way and only with certain signs.

2. The Gifts of the Spirit work only this way and not any others.

Then there is the opposite extreme of letting anything go without thought to the Bible.

3."I don't care what the Bible says I know what the Spirit is saying to me"

4. The massive violation of good sense in interpretation of Scripture.


I am a Pentecostal in the sense of what it was like in the early days before Pentecostal denominations.

1. Freethinking about the Holy Spirit with a heavy dose common sense Biblical interpretation.

2. Open to the possibilities but closed to anything outside of Scripture.

This is where I like to be and what Pentecostalism lost when it lost sense and reality. I can only do my part and believe as a Pentecostal believes without losing my way in the mucky muck of twofold nonsense -- strict and closed doctrinal understanding and experiential theology with no Biblical backing.

Why, because I believe in the power of God to do the impossible and to act today in the world. I believe that God has promised healing and power for the believe to minister in this world. I believe in joyful and expressive worship. That's why I am a Pentecostal.